Ombudsman named for downtown construction

Downtown's latest addition soon will set up shop on Main Street.

The addition, however, isn't a bakery, a deli or a souvenir shop. It's Bill Knowles, who hopes to become the best friend of downtown businesses in the next several years.

Knowles was named the downtown construction ombudsman this week by the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce, the Downtown Alliance and Salt Lake City. He will start with a two-year contract but hopes the position will extend to as many as five years.

In his new job, he'll coordinate businesses, construction crews, project supervisors, city bureaucrats and the public. His goal is to make downtown reconstruction as smooth as possible.

"The next several years will be an ongoing process of keeping information and communication going between the project owners and the community," Knowles said. "I don't think there's been a time in the last 50 or even 100 years (with) such a dramatic change and so much capital put into such a concentrated area as there is beginning to be downtown."

Knowles' first task is to make sure everyone knows what is going on downtown. That's a tall order itself, given that the largest single investor in downtown — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — is mum about its plans for the Crossroads Mall and ZCMI Center, which are mostly empty and awaiting major renovation.

The church has declined to offer a timeline or specific plans about what will go in place of the malls, other than to say that it will produce a mixed-use development with office, retail and residential components sometime in the next few years.

The Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce and its partner, the Downtown Alliance, are splitting the cost of Knowles' position with Salt Lake City. The split was an important symbol for partnership between the private and public sector, said Natalie Gochnour, spokeswoman for the chamber.

"The right way to do it is 50-50, even though it meant that we have to raise money," Gochnour said. "The business community needs the city, and the city needs the business community."

The city is looking forward to one person working among the businesses, project owners and members of the public, because Knowles will have the concerns of all downtown entities in mind.